Hooley hard on himself for tough game

UAlbany's star guard held to 6 points in battle with top-seeded Gators

By Tim Wilkin

Published 11:21 pm, Thursday, March 20, 2014

Orlando, Fla.

In the America East Tournament, Peter Hooley carried the University at Albany basketball team. Without the 6-foot-4 sophomore guard, who averaged 23.7 points in the three games that won the league title, the Danes would not have been in the NCAA Tournament.

On the biggest stage of all, Hooley was not able to produce an encore. He sat in a chair in front of his cubicle in the Danes' dressing room early Thursday evening trying to decompress from the 67-55 loss to Florida. It was going to take awhile. Hooley made just one of 10 shots and finished with six points while playing all but the final 13 seconds.

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"Absolutely, I could have played better," Hooley said. "This is going to haunt me for at least 24 hours. Personally, I am down, but on the team level, I could not be prouder of the way we played."

Five of Hooley's misses came from 3-point range. Sam Rowley, the 6-foot-6 junior forward and best inside player for the Danes, was held to three points on 1-for-8 shooting.

He also had six rebounds and four assists.

"I don't think I was a non-factor," Rowley said. "I thought I drew some of their attention. I just wish I would've made a few more shots."

UAlbany coach Will Brown said a lot of Hooley's woes came from the defense of Florida senior guard Scottie Wilbekin, the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and a member of the SEC All-Defensive team.

The Danes have not seen a player like Florida's 6-9, 240-pound senior center Patric Young. He didn't dominate UAlbany, but he did enough. Young had his first double-double of the season — and 11th of his career — with 10 points and 10 rebounds. His three-point play — which started with a powerful dunk — with 14:04 left snapped a 39-39 tie and Florida would never trail again.

Young did not block a shot, but every time a UAlbany player attempted to venture inside with the ball, they had to think twice about taking the ball to the basket.

"You can't move him," Rowley said.

Brown was more blunt.

"If he can't make it in the NBA, he's going to have a shot in the NFL," he said. "If he doesn't go to the NFL, he'll be in the WWE. If he doesn't go to the WWE, maybe the UFC. I mean, the guy is enormous. DJ (UAlbany's 5-foot-9 point guard Evans) comes up to his kneecap. I'm asking my bigs to really battle and grind, and (6-10, 235-pound UAlbany center) John Puk said, 'Coach, I can't move him.' I'm like, 'Try.' "

Bye-bye uniforms

The Danes got a lot of publicity, most of it negative, on their funky purple and gold road uniforms. They were purple on the front and gold on the back of the shorts. It looked like they all sat in a vat of yellow paint. The uniforms were designed, and now they are gone. Brown said he always designs the uniforms, but is now getting out of the business.

"To use the phrase they use a lot in college and the NBA, 'One and done," Brown said. "We did get a lot of attention for the uniforms. I don't know if that's good or bad."

Next season, the Danes will have a new look. And Brown says he won't have anything to do with it.

"I thought they looked good, but I didn't have to wear them," he said. "This is the first time I did a bad job."

When asked if he was Calvin Klein, Brown smiled. "More like Buster Brown," he said.